October 2016

We’ve all been there: Halloween night, every piece of clothing on the floor and all hope lost, drawing whiskers on your face to be a cat for the fourth year in a row. You’re internally preparing yourself to be called basic throughout the night. Have no fear, fellow procrastinators! Fourteenth Street is here to turn your Halloween blues to orange with a multitude of costume ideas. All can be thrown together in under half an hour, created in the comfort of your own home and stick to the budget of a college student.

Standing in the rain at Lincoln Financial Field, I wished for two things: first, that I was allowed to bring an umbrella in the stadium, and second, that Beyoncé would descend from whatever cloud she lives on and grace the stage, already.

As the warm summer breeze begins to slowly fade away and the leaves start changing their hues, coffee lovers have only one thing on their mind: the ubiquitous pumpkin spice latte. While arguments can be made for or against this seasonal classic, one thing is irrefutable: it has a significant impact on food culture in America. Almost all major coffee chains have their own rendition of this fall favorite.

It has been an interesting year in the fashion world. Couture and ready-to-wear are intertwined, along with a new wave of creative directors in established fashion houses. As we begin to see a shift from traditional runway shows to reality-augmented videos, many designers are trying to find a new sense of style in the latter half of the ‘10s.

After a serene nap on the luscious grass of Rittenhouse Square it was time to move towards Ratha Yatra or The Parade of Chariots, The Indian Festival. The Philadelphia version of this event is in motion every year in the early weeks of September by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia refuses to stop having new wonders and hidden gems. Almost anywhere you look you can find something different, something exciting. Most recently I found it in the back of a graffiti-clothed alley off Girard Street called Open Space. Walk in the back door at 1014 N Marshall St. and the venue opens to a stark contrast of the city that surrounds it: aptly named, the venue is white space. Simple. Modern. Clean. It serves as a blank canvas for whichever event it’s hosting; one standout was a concert celebrating Philly’s budding rap scene Sept. 29.

A smooth cruise from Temple Town via 15th Street brought us past City Hall with William Penn looking over in a shaft of light as we rolled past. The night was preluded with the playing of instruments and listening to the Grateful Dead. We then arrived at the beautifully abandoned section of Samson street with only the royal blue lights of “Chris’s Jazz Café” shining through.

If you were to walk into a stranger’s backyard for the first time and proclaim that you’ve discovered it, it’s unlikely you’d be celebrated for it for over 500 years. In fact, you’d likely be arrested for trespassing. Consider this during this year’s celebration of Christopher Columbus Day.

As newlyweds took wedding pictures on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Oct. 1, a group of hoopers gathered to celebrate World Hoop Day. Beginner to professional hoopers, were encouraged to dance on the iconic museum steps. The annual celebration of hoop dance began in 2007 when a girl travelling abroad missed her friends at home and started a way they could hoop together wherever they were.